Nagpur
\nA curfew has been imposed in parts of a city in India\u2019s western state of Maharashtra after Hindu groups demanded the removal of the tomb of Aurangzeb, a 17th-Century Mughal emperor, sparking violence on Monday night.
\nVehicles were set on fire and stones were thrown in the Mahal area of \u200b\u200bNagpur city.
\nPolice say the situation is now under control and are appealing to people to keep the peace.
\nThe tomb of Aurangzeb, who died more than 300 years ago, has in recent years become a political flashpoint amid growing calls for its removal by hardline Hindu groups.
\nIt is located about 500km (311 miles) from Nagpur in the state\u2019s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, which was earlier called Aurangabad after the emperor.
\nMonday\u2019s violence broke out after two Hindu organisations, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, burnt the emperor\u2019s effigy and chanted slogans demanding the removal of his tomb, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the state assembly.
\nThis sparked rumours that some religious symbols had been desecrated. Fadnavis said this led to violence that looked like \u201ca well-planned attack\u201d.
\nHe said after evening prayers, a crowd of 250 Muslim men gathered and started shouting slogans. \u201cWhen people started saying they would set vehicles on fire, police used force,\u201d he added.
\nMore than 50 people have been detained and 33 policemen were injured in the incident, Nagpur police commissioner Ravinder Singal told ANI news agency.
\nShops and businesses in the central areas of Nagpur remain closed and security has been tightened across the city.
\nMeanwhile, opposition parties have criticised the state\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government saying \u201claw and order in the state has collapsed\u201d.
\nThe trigger for this week\u2019s violence has been a recent Bollywood film about Sambhaji \u2013 a Maratha ruler who clashed with Aurangzeb but lost \u2013 and its graphic depiction of him being tortured.
\nThe movie has \u201cignited people\u2019s anger against Aurangzeb\u201d, Fadnavis told the state assembly on Tuesday.
\nThe issue has been making headlines in the state for days with politicians from Hindu nationalist parties criticising Aurangzeb and calling for his tomb to be removed.
\nThe protesters were also angered earlier this month when Abu Azmi, a regional politician, said that Aurangzeb was not a \u201ccruel administrator\u201d and had \u201cbuilt many temples\u201d.
\nAzmi also said the emperor\u2019s reign saw India\u2019s borders reaching Afghanistan and present-day Myanmar, and the country was referred to as a golden bird, with its gross domestic product accounting for a quarter of the world\u2019s GDP.
\nHe later told a court his remarks were misinterpreted, but he was suspended from Maharashtra\u2019s state assembly and an investigation was ordered against him.
\nIn 2022, Aurangzeb\u2019s name was trending on social media when the dispute over a mosque – built on the ruins of the Vishwanath temple, a grand 17th-Century Hindu shrine destroyed on Aurangzeb\u2019s orders – broke out as a court ordered a survey to ascertain if the mosque had been built over what was originally a Hindu temple.
\nHis tomb was shut for visitors after a regional politician questioned \u201cthe need for its existence\u201d and called for its destruction.
\nPrime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke about \u201cAurangzeb\u2019s atrocities and \u201chis terror\u201d at an event in Varanasi that year. \u201cHe tried to change civilisation by the sword. He tried to crush culture with fanaticism,\u201d Modi said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nagpur A curfew has been imposed in parts of a city in India\u2019s western state of Maharashtra after Hindu groups demanded the removal of the tomb of Aurangzeb, a 17th-Century Mughal emperor, sparking violence on Monday night. Vehicles were set on fire and stones were thrown in the Mahal area of \u200b\u200bNagpur city. Police say […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-467848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n